Party

After last year’s visit at the Treptower Park the joyful music carnival that is the Lollapalooza Festival unfolded its tent at the unusual location of the Hoppegarten horse race course. Embedded into the normally unused inner circle of the race course the festival had a much more straight-forward set-up than in recent years at the park and and the former Tempelhof Airport which made orientation much more efficient. It felt like it was also easier to locate and reach all the special areas of the festival such as the Fun Fair that was once again hosted by Absolut, the Kidzapalooza grounds and the Urban Nation exhibition cube.

Like last year we had the pleasure to visit the Lollapalooza with our partner Absolut. It was hard to miss their involvement in the festival thanks to their big bottle-shaped gate to the fun fair that also acted as a viewing platform, as well as multiple big glittering bottles. At the Absolut bar they served their newly revised Absolut Lolla cocktail made of Absolut Lime, wild berry soda and fresh berries. There was also a couple of other fun activities such as the photo booth, a flower crown workshop à la Midsommar and a little performance inspired by the Swedish tradition of Saint Lucy’s Day with illuminated creatures and a glowing unicorn. Some impressions of the visually stunning festival below…

I am still quite overwhelmed with feelings of joy, especially now going through all the fun photos of our special night (if you have more photos send them to us!). 10 years is a very special number, but I’m glad that we could do this big number justice. Teaming up with the Olympus Perspective Playground was an amazing opportunity that I am so proud of and thankful for. Being surrounded by the amazing artworks of this immersive exhibition and the stunning venue of Kraftwerk was just much better than I imagined it to be. And by the amount of euphoric faces that I saw during the night I am confident to say I was not the only one.

Less than a month is left to what might be one of the most exciting weekends for Berlin. I know the stakes are high in this competition, but that’s no joke – there’s the highly anticipated Bread & Butter by Zalando (B&&B) – a fashion/music/food extravaganza happening Friday 1st through Sunday 3rd of September in the Arena Berlin, and if you care at all for any component of the aforementioned trifecta, you better save the date. Why? We have all the highlights and some tickets for you to win listed for you.

UPDATE: M.I.A. (Friday) and FKA Twigs (Saturday) were announced as headliners.

Berlin’s queer nightlife is vibrant, diverse and yet divided, full of holes and ruptures. If you want your own little party island, you will find it but finding that one common ground seems almost utopian. But now, WHOLE United Queer Festival wants to prove that there can be a queer common ground where we put all differences aside and dance together – at Europe’s first queer electronic music festival! Anyone familiar with what’s hot and what’s not after sun set might rub their eyes looking at the festival collaborators Pornceptual, Members, Riot, G Day, Female:Pressure, Liber Null Berlin, and TrashEra. It’s literally like your favorite Saturday nights went on a date and made a baby.

Pornceptual is the unchallenged, sexiest Party in town: 4 years of conceptual porn, sensual photography, experimental videos, wild parties, and daily inspiration to live out our kinky side. Deeply rooted on Berlin’s underground scene, it’s hard to imagine the city without their bi-monthly, naked gathering. The one event that makes you think outside your normal party closet, or finally lets you dress according to your phantasies: In nothing or nothing more than fishnet. Although, Berlin has always been a place for sex-positivity, Pornceptual is a singular phenomenon. Despite hitting party mainstream, it has maintained its reputation as one of Berlin’s most revealing nights. It’s hundreds of naked bodies dancing, sweating, fucking, living. After all, It’s just skin, it’s all human and it’s all beautiful! We collected some sexy, nude, extravagant memories of their fabulous first 4 years.

A couple of weeks ago we got a call with a seductive offer: Tenga, a Japanese brand specialized on male and female masturbation toys, asked us if we would make a photoshoot with their products, specifically the pride edition of their bestseller, right at the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin. The task: the models of this shoot should be the visitors of the parade.

We thought about it and finally decided that having a “good excuse” to talk to cute strangers about masturbation on the Pride parade is not such bad job. Slurp!

Berlin is many things, but undeniably, Berlin is pretty damn gay. The capital is so famous as a vibrating LGBTQ hotspot with countless bars, clubs, parties, different places, different styles, scenes and people that it can all become pretty confusing. You have something for everyone here, and that can be a bit overwhelming at times. So, we put together a little list of places a Berlin gay should know.

Last week Berlin saw the second European edition of the No Commission international series of events by music producer Swizz Beatz’ The Dean Collection and BACARDÍ. For three days the mega event took over the Kraftwerk Rummelsburg with a large scale exhibition of over 30 artists from all over the world and big parties with international and local acts such as Major Lazer, Alicia Keys, and Noah Becker’s band Bakery playing live.

I had the chance to go to the opening last Thursday and I have to admit that I was pretty blown away by the size of it. I hadn’t been in the location before, nor could I really picture how the mix of art and music event would really play out. But the set-up looked great. It was so grand, and despite the apocalyptic rain on that day the huge venue was packed.

The exhibition took up the first half of the space with huge black and red walls set up at different angles giving the huge artworks a perfect background to shine. I liked the art that I saw, very expressive and colorful, different genres, different media. A really wild and stimulating mix. In the lower level there was also a smaller exhibition with limited edition prints for art fans with smaller budgets. So far, over 3 Million Dollars have been generated from the sales of the art in all of the other editions that happened since last year, all of which go directly to the artists, without any commission to the organizers or agents. I sure hope the Berlin edition has also added a bit to that proud sum.

Vietnamese people is Berlin’s largest East Asian community, comprising 1.16% of the total population. German or international friends usually immediately associate Vietnamese people with restaurants, nail salons, flower shops or convenience stores since the majority of those people operate in these businesses. However, the younger generations of Vietnamese in Berlin are actually a lively generation blended well into the German culture and the Berlin hippie lifestyle. They are also a very creative and artful cohort and the faces behind lots of successful businesses and entertaining activities in this cosmopolitan city. A look into the most outstanding and interesting projects by the Vietnamese youth in Berlin!

This past weekend I had the pure pleasure to celebrate Midsommar in Sweden on a beautiful estate in the countryside near Ahus. We’ve all heard of this holiday here because of all the Swedish people living here and the Germans generally being quite into Swedish things. For the Swedish this is really a big deal, it’s like the next big thing after Christmas. It was my first time, and considering how amazing it was, I hope it won’t be the last time.

The Midsommar Weekender was initiated by Absolut, and knowing how elaborate their events are from previous ones (see here and here) we knew we were in for a real treat. The three day affair pretty much incorporated all the traditions of Midsommar, including flower crows, maypole dancing, a big lunch banquette and outdoor games. Mixing it with what Absolut does best – cocktails, concerts and great parties – it turned out to be pretty spectacular weekend. We totally want you to start celebrating Midsommar here too, so to wet your appetite we brought you some photos from this lovely weekend in Sweden.